


Reflections

by Perri Smith (neonhummingbird)



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonhummingbird/pseuds/Perri%20Smith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice and Hatter dance between two worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflections

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Naranne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naranne/gifts).



For the first several months after Everything Happened, Hatter and Alice take a kind of gleeful delight in introducing each other to the delights of their respective worlds. They both have unlimited Looking Glass privileges -- privileges very few others share, as King Jack (and that still sounds so strange inside Alice's head) is determined to clear out the influence of "oysters", and keep their two worlds apart until Wonderland has time to discover itself again.

(There is no consensus yet on a better name to use for the people of Alice's world, and the suggestions Alice and Hatter give Jack are mostly unhelpful, sometimes on purpose. It's almost impossible to resist teasing Jack when he's being serious and noble and kingly; Alice suspects Hatter is a very bad influence on her, but she doesn't mind. Jack minds, but is not stupid enough to say anything.)

Charlie agrees with Jack about trying to clear their world and, as it turns out, Charlie is the one who is given control of the Ring of Wonderland. It's either a master stroke of PR on Jack's part (Hatter's judgment) or the wise act of a noble leader (Alice's opinion, mostly) to take control of the ring away from the Hearts and return it to the White Knights. The decision certainly quieted some of the loudest voices opposing Jack's coronation, so they might both be right.

(Jack is not his mother, but he really is not stupid.)

At any rate, travel through the Looking Glass is strictly limited, but an exception has been made for Alice of Legend (and she still rolls her eyes when anyone calls her that, except Charlie, who's allowed) and for Hatter the Hero. (Jack usually calls him that sarcastically and Hatter grins maniacally at him. Some residents of Wonderland call him that very seriously, and Hatter turns red, fumbles with his hat, and quickly finds a reason he really has to be somewhere else, so sorry.) Alice and Hatter are entitled to come and go as they please, and of all of the "benefits" of being "heroes", it's the only one they both actually like.

*****

The first few times she returns to Wonderland, it's at Jack's request. Having Alice of Legend at his side adds some legitimacy to Jack's meetings with the Resistance; Hatter's usefulness comes in that fact that he knows everyone and, more importantly, usually knows when they're lying (and why).

Jack's new palace isn't a palace at all -- it's the Great Library. The refugees living there have been brought back into what little sunlight Wonderland offers, and given homes in the city, safe from the Queen and the suits. The books have been lovingly rescued from their duties as walls and furniture, and Jack and Charlie spend hours pouring over them, trying to recover what they can of the world the queen destroyed.

Jack's main task is building a government, a true one that doesn't revolve around 'tea'. Caterpillar (very much not dead and no one seems surprised) attends every meeting he's asked to, sitting calmly and smoking near a window; he rarely speaks, but when he does, even Dodo shuts up and listens. Charlie usually attends, but mostly stands there with his eyes faintly glazed, swaying slightly in place and humming under his breath until he's asked a specific question. Hatter and Alice take turns elbowing him when the humming stops being under his breath.

Alice doesn't really offer anything at the meetings, but Hatter does. At first, Jack is inclined to brush him off, but Alice and Charlie won't allow that, so he listens instead. It turns out the two of them can argue over the best way to rebuild the economy with the same enthusiasm that they insult each other.

(And, as it turns out, so can the Duchess. She'll make a good queen, Alice thinks, once Jack gets over believing he's tragically heartbroken. Certainly she'll be better at it than Alice ever would. Alice much prefers trampling over every strange corner of Wonderland with Hatter, trying to coax refugees to return to the city, finding out what the little villages need, and rooting out the occasional escaped Suit. And while they're out troubleshooting, they don't have to be at meetings, which is a major bonus.)

*****

They're wandering through a village in Wonderland (that looked small from the hills above it, but seems to get bigger with every step they take through it, and Alice can't decide if her sense of perspective is off, or if the village's is), when Alice is inadvertently introduced to one of Hatter's passions: The Game.

Or rather, it almost takes her head off.

She ducks automatically, not quite screaming, and a crowd gallops past her to retrieve the spiky brown ball-shaped thing that almost hit her. She hears Hatter yell "Brilliant!" even as he helps her up, so she assumes no one is about to be murdered.

And then wonders if she was wrong as she sees the mob that has assembled in the blink of an eye, a mass of colors and shapes, hats and cloaks and nearly naked people gleefully yelling a bloodthirsty chant in unison. In the center of the crowd are two or three groups of ... yes, people, she decides eventually, racing around tossing balls towards, at, and sometimes through each other. (Alice swears the three (or four) balls disappear and reappear wherever they want, usually in mid-throw, but sometimes right out of someone's hand. When she points this out to Hatter, he blinks and says, "Well, yeah. That's the fun.") In between finding and throwing a ball, they seem to beat up on each other to keep anyone else from finding or throwing a ball.

(It's not that Alice doesn't appreciate sports -- she likes football and basketball and tournament karate. But she's not sure something with no rules, no referees, and no scoring system can actually be considered a sport.)

She's pretty sure there are three teams, but sometimes it seems to turn into two teams and then into four, and she can't tell if any of the goals belong to any of the teams. She thinks they're goals, anyway: four weirdly-shaped objects (like beehives, only flat and deformed, and possibly filled with bees) that two little guys each carry between them as they hustle on stumpy legs around the field, simultaneously trying not to drop their awkward loads, and to use them to catch any of the badly-thrown balls that come anywhere near their direction. It seems unfair that the goal-carriers get booed for a miss instead of the person who threw it, even when they only miss because the ball disappears. The little guys look very stressed out, although everyone else is having a good time. She thinks.

The Game ends as abruptly as it began when all of the goal carriers throw down their goals and run screaming into the crowd, which dissolves like water from a shattered balloon. Hatter talks about it for the rest of the day, detailing moments she entirely missed, or that maybe didn't happen; it doesn't really matter. He can't explain what the score was or who won, and doesn't actually seem interested in either. But his face is glowing in a way she's rarely seen, so Alice finally gives up asking him to explain and just lets him ramble on and on, his arms flung wide as he replays really impressive... somethings.

(She later finds out that Jack and Hatter, when they've decided to get along for a few minutes, can go on and on recapping "brilliant Games I've seen"; Alice would almost rather talk about clothes with the Duchess than listen, except that the Duchess is also a fan of the Game and joins in with the boys. Alice usually leaves them to it and goes to visit Charlie.)

*****

Hatter also likes most of the sports in Alice's world (he prefers cricket to soccer, and baseball to basketball -- the more complicated and counter-intuitive the rules, the better), but it turns out he's not at all interested in television or movies, and he doesn't quite understand why anyone should be.

"It's like the tea shop, isn't it? Getting absorbed in other people's emotions instead of your own? And those aren't even real. Just... actors, right?" He shrugs and takes off his hat, flipping it around his hand with absentminded skill. "Better to go out and do things yourself, or you start turning into drones for the Queen again."

Alice thinks about this for a long minute, then throws a small pillow at him and sulks, because she'll never be able to watch TV again without hearing the Queen's voice in the background. Hatter doesn't apologize, but he does try to cheer her up. The resulting wrestling match sends them both rolling off the couch and brings Carol running to see if someone is being murdered. She shakes her head at the scene she finds -- both of them tangled on the floor laughing helplessly, with Alice threatening to smother Hatter with that same pillow -- and snickers as she tells them not to break any furniture, because _she's_ not explaining it to the neighbors.

Alice later coaxes Hatter into actually enjoying TV by showing him old Warner Brothers cartoons and episodes of "The Muppet Show". He laughs uproariously at Bugs Bunny and Kermit the Frog until they hit the 'Alice in Wonderland' episode -- then, the muppet Jabberwock freaks them both out so much they have to turn off the episode and turn on some lights. Hatter insists that he's too traumatized to sleep alone that night, and Alice sighs gustily, like cuddling with him is a terrible chore. The retaliatory tickle fight _that_ leads to goes much more interesting places, and Alice is fervently glad her mother has stopped coming to investigate loud noises.

*****

What Hatter does love about Alice's world is music. Alice plays him her most obnoxious rap album first, and cackles in glee at the expression on his face, then makes it up to him with Loreena McKennitt. He sits still to listen, stiller than she's ever seen him, and the joy in his eyes is the best gift she'd ever gotten. Blues to Beethoven, Celtic to country, Rachmaninoff to rock and roll... if it has melody and lyrics, he's enchanted.

(iPods work in Wonderland, but no other MP3 player does, and neither do "real world" laptops. Alice doesn't know why, and she's afraid to ask any questions about Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak (although it would explain a lot). She keeps catching Hatter having these intense conversations with the two surviving Casino engineers, gesturing with his ever-present iPod, and she just knows he's trying to reverse engineer the MP3s to something that will run on Wonderland circuits. Jack's dream of an undiluted Wonderland is doomed to failure; Loreena, Springsteen and Mozart are unstoppable forces.)

On a whim, Alice takes Hatter to a club one night, one of the few places on her side of the Looking Glass where Hatter can dress like himself, and fit in perfectly. And since Alice not-so-secretly prefers Hatter's funky clothes and spiky hair and guy-liner to the conventional, clean-cut persona he usually adopts on his visits, she's pleased with herself for the inspiration.

Alice dresses the part with leather and bold makeup, but Hatter gets most of the attention in his black velvet frock coat and an honest-to-god waistcoat so heavily embroidered that it gleams like Charlie's armor.

(Hatter is a total clotheshorse; Alice should have suspected that from the clothing rack he kept in his office, so that he wouldn't ever be entirely separated from his wardrobe. He never got a change of clothes the entire time they were roaming Wonderland and fighting the Queen, and she thinks it truly wounded his soul. He's made up for it since, with a different wild shirt and elaborate coat every time she sees him, and even changing hats now and then, although the oddly shaped straw one is always his favorite. She also appreciates the sartorial sacrifices he makes going through the Looking Glass to see her -- not a paisley, print or ruffle in sight. What's the old phrase, truer love hath no man...?)

No, the looks they get in the club don't surprise her. What surprises her is when Hatter takes her hand and pulls her onto the dance floor. He's light on his feet, amazingly grateful, and picks up any rhythm effortlessly. She's never danced with a better partner; he spins her out and pulls her in, then wraps his arms around her and brings her even closer. She stares into his eyes, losing herself in their depths and the music that pulses around them, until nothing exists but Hatter's body against hers.

They break apart when the music ends, and the cheerful catcalls of "get a room!" finally intrude. Hatter kisses her, quick but deep, then turns and bows to the room at large with a wide flourish. Alice laughs and tugs him after her to go get water -- they don't need any alcohol, already drunk on music and rhythm and each other. They close the club down that night, and many of the nights that follow.

*****

Alice makes her first official appearance at Jack's formal court sooner than she'd expected, or than she'd like. But Hatter points out that if she isn't at Charlie's official knighting, he'll spend the next few years looking at her with wounded puppy-dog eyes and assuring her (totally sincerely) that he understands that only something of great importance could have kept Alice of Legend from his side at his moment of glory.

Alice learned early on to respect the power of Charlie's puppy-dog eyes.

So she accepts the formal meeting with Jack when she comes through the Looking Glass (involving bows and snide courtiers and Hatter standing off to the side smirking because he doesn't have to go through any of it), and even wears the court garb provided for her (thankfully, not by whomever designs the Duchess's clothes). It's not too bad -- long, wide blue skirts, but a cropped, embroidered tank top that actually flatters her -- and Hatter looks impressed when he comes to escort her to the ceremony.

(Impressed enough that it takes them longer to get out of her room than necessary; Jack looks annoyed when they arrive late and laughing, Hatter's hand spread over the small of Alice's bare back.)

They make a very big deal out of the ceremony of the Ring, held in the Great Hall of the Library, where King Jack anoints Charlie the first of the "new age of Knights who will guide and protect our land", and the speeches and rituals go on _forever_. But it's worth it to see Charlie beaming through the tears running down his face, and the pride that glows in his eyes as he rises, truly Sir Charles at last, with the Ring of Wonderland on his hand. Hatter hands Alice a handkerchief (also blue, with a gold border; it matches his coat), and she's surprised to realize that she needs it.

Afterwards, there's a banquet at which Alice steadfastly doesn't ask what she's eating (she learned from the roasted borogrove), and more speeches. She and Hatter pay attention to the speakers who are clearly trying to challenge Jack ('Know thine enemy' is a basic rule of Wonderland survival), ignore the ones who are clearly talking to hear their own voice, and provide quiet, sarcastic commentary when Dodo drones on for a half an hour. (Dodo is both challenging Jack _and_ in love with his own voice. Alice catches the Duchess's glance at one point about halfway through, and they forget their mutual dislike long enough to roll their eyes at each other.)

Finally, it's all over, and Alice is ready to escape as the dishes and furniture are cleared away. But Hatter catches her hand with one of his manic grins. "Wait for it," he tells her. A few minutes later, a small chamber group starts playing (the instruments are mostly familiar, but there's one cross between a bagpipe and a guitar that Alice can't quite figure out; it sounds nice, though), and Jack and the Duchess lead the court into some kind of elaborate folk dance to which everyone else has known the steps since birth.

"Oh, no!" Alice protests when Hatter starts to pull her into the figures. "I can't do that, I'll mess everyone up."

Hatter smiles at her, for once without a trace of smirk. "Trust me," he says quietly, and Alice bites her lip, then sighs.

"Always," she tells him, and follows his lead as he swings her easily into the dance. It's surprisingly elegant for Wonderland (no lobsters appear, although Alice half-expected them), all extended arms and graceful turns, but with unexpected changes in speed and rhythm that catch Alice by surprise. Hatter winks and executes a quick bit of complicated footwork; Alice narrows her eyes at him, and almost duplicates it when the music comes around again.

At one point, Alice looks up and realizes she and Hatter, and Jack and the Duchess, are the only couples on the floor.

(Later on, a man with a flowing mane of tawny hair gets into an argument with a woman whose silver headdress comes to a single towering point over her forehead. It starts out with yelling and degenerates into an all-out battle that seems to circle the entire ballroom. The Duchess finally has enough and hits the woman over the head with a large cake, while Hatter and Jack subdue the man. No one looks surprised, and everyone immediately goes back to eating and dancing.)

(Alice doesn't ask.)

*****

The explanation they managed to offer Alice's mother was that Alice and 'David' went to school together; they hadn't seen each other since graduation, and it was a wonderful twist of fate that had 'David' coming to her rescue. Alice has no idea how much of that Carol believed.

Carol never asks many questions, but there was one she couldn't resist, the very first night: why does Alice call him Hatter?

Hatter shifted uncomfortably and tried the 'always the first one to pass the hat' story; Carol hummed a little and didn't comment. Alice rolled her eyes and demanded to know where Hatter's hat was. And his _hair_.

Hatter ran his hand over his (un-spiked, de-Wonderlanded, kind of boring) hair and grimaced. "Well, you know -- trying to look normal. To impress a girl's mum and all."

"Shouldn't you be more concerned about impressing me?" Alice asked archly.

"Thought I'd already done that."

Their eyes danced at each other as they tried to repress the same ridiculous grins, aware of Carol watching, but almost too pleased with themselves to hold it in. Carol hummed again, then smiled and went to find something to do in the kitchen.

Alice knows now that one day, she'll have to tell her mother the truth; she'll have to bring Carol to Wonderland to see for herself where her daughter lives half her life, and where her husband died. Alice is waiting for the right time, and admits it may never come. Someday, she'll just have to choose the wrong time, and hope she says the right things to make up for it.

She worries out loud about it to Hatter all the time; he listens intently, hugs her tightly, and promises that, whatever she decides to do, he'll have her back.

Alice hugs him back, and believes him.

*****

And that's how it works for them. Alice cheers loudly and randomly for Hatter's games when they stumble on them during their rambling journeys through Wonderland, and he tolerates the occasional movie if there are sword fights or enough things blow up creatively (no dramas or rom coms, or anything with subtext or angst. Hatter doesn't do angst in general; angst isn't a survival trait in Wonderland). They dance together at every opportunity (and create a few when they're bored), and listen to music endlessly, and argue about everything and nothing as they tramp their way around her city and his world.

Hatter touches Alice almost all the time (Jack makes acid comments about lichen a few times, until Alice tells him sternly to stop), and Alice sometimes steals his hat to make him laugh and chase after her to get it back. They sleep together most nights, cuddled in her bed or his, or dreaming together in front of a campfire under the strange stars of the Wonderland skies.

Hatter asks Alice once, a little sadly, if she likes Wonderland at all now, and she doesn't know how to answer. Part of her will always think of Wonderland as the place that reached out and stole her father from her, that let itself be consumed by the Queen of Hearts until her cruelty was woven into the world itself. The place that ultimately took her father forever, and would have taken her if it could.

But Hatter comes from Wonderland, and Charlie, and Jack. She's ridden a flamingo over a lake, taken fencing lessons from a knight, and danced in a library with shelves that rise up to the sky. She came through a looking glass searching for her love, and found it in a reflection, in a place and form she could never have expected.

Only Wonderland could have produced Hatter, and she would never trade this life for her life Before, for a life that doesn't include his smirk and his hats, his surprising grace, and the way he buries himself in her arms as if he's never been held before, and never wants to be held by anyone but her again.

She tells him that, and his eyes light up, his face creasing with the boyish smile that always makes her heart skip a beat, and he sweeps her into his arms and around their campfire, dancing and floating to music only they can hear. The world spins around her and she doesn't know or care which one it is.

As long as Hatter is there, Alice has found the only dream she's ever wanted to have.

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my awesome betas, who caught the typos, helped me fix the truly messed-up flow, tried (and failed, but that's not their fault) to control my parentheses, and will be thanked in more detail after the reveal. :)


End file.
